1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a package for storing container carriers in a space-efficient manner for later dispensing the container carriers in a time-efficient manner.
2. Description of Prior Art
Container carriers connect two or more containers into a sturdy unitized package of containers. Container carriers are generally planar arrays of rings, sometimes referred to as "six-pack carriers," typically formed from a thermoplastic sheet material. Container carriers are produced so that large numbers of container carriers are formed end to end resulting in continuous elongated strips of container carriers. Unless specified otherwise, container carriers as used in this specification are defined as the continuous elongated strip of container carriers prior to application onto containers and subsequent division into individual container carriers.
Prior art methods of packaging container carriers involve accumulating the elongated strips of container carriers onto reels. The reels of container carriers are unwound at a later time during application onto containers. The reel method of storing and applying the container carriers to containers requires splicing the end of one reel with the beginning of the following reel without interrupting the application process. The reel method of storing and applying carriers is generally limited to reels of a size which may be physically lifted and manipulated by the applicating machine operators. Also, the reel unwinding equipment must accommodate the inertia and resultant backlash inherent in unwinding a wound strip of material. Further, the generally circular or octagonal shape of the reels limits the number of reels which may be assembled onto a single pallet for shipment between the production facility and the application facility.
Wanderer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,405, discloses a method for storing and dispensing container carriers wherein elongated strips of container carriers are fan folded, like pin-feed computer paper, into a box that accommodates a single lane of container carriers. The container carriers are dispensed from the box during the application process and successive boxes containing individual stacks of container carriers are spliced together as the boxes empty. However, the Wanderer patent does not disclose any method or apparatus for packaging multiple stacks of container carriers in a single package.